Wikipedia defines history as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. It came from the Greek word ‘historia’ – which means ‘inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation’.
Did you know? There are many who claim Herodotus, a fifth century BC Greek historian, as the “father of history”.
This website utilizes pages from Wikipedia to extract historical events from 3761 BC up to the present. There are 105,060 records in the database that include events, births and deaths of popular individuals. The present day Gregorian calendar was adopted to show dates of interest.
Let us begin with today’s history. You may also enter a specific day using the form on the top bar. Year is optional.
What are the important events that happened on May 2? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 2: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 2 is the 123rd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 243 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 19, 2024 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 28,576,800 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectaicosatrigon’ day.
Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 272 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,150 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
Are you not curious to find out some fun facts about your birthday? Find out ‘who shares my birthday’ and what was the number one song on your day of birth. (Sponsored link)
May 2 Historical Events
- 1194 –King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
- 1672 –John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
- 1955 –Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
- 1989 –Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
- 1998 –The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy.
Who were born on May 2?
- 1915 –Doris Fisher, American songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1922 –A.M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born newspaper editor (d. 2006)
- 1926 –Gérard D. Lévesque, Quebec politician (d. 1993)
- 1975 –David Beckham, English footballer
- 1983 –Daniel Sordo, Spanish rally driver
Who died on May 2?
- 756 –Emperor Shōmu, Emperor of Japan (b. 701)
- 1711 –Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English statesman (b. 1641)
- 1989 –Giuseppe Siri, Italian Catholic Cardinal (b. 1906)
- 1997 –Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator (b. 1921)
- 2005 –Kenneth B. Clark, American psychologist (b. 1914)
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